When he looks at the people taking part in Yarmouth’s annual Natal Day quiz, Jim MacLeod says he notices different reactions to the questions. That some of them really make people think is evident from the look he sees on the faces of participants.

“There are some that no one gets,” says MacLeod, the event’s coordinator. “We don’t do that on purpose, but we hope that by asking those kinds of questions, people learn something about their heritage.”

This year’s quiz will be held Monday, June 9, at Meadowfields Community School. Teams are asked to be there at 6:30 p.m. and the quiz is scheduled to start at 7.

The focus of the quiz is on local history and while there is an educational component to the evening, MacLeod says the event is meant to be fun too.

“Everyone likes to do well and everyone likes to have the right answers, but you’re there to interact, learn something and enjoy the evening,” he says.

Teams can consist of four to six people.

Twenty-two teams took part in the quiz last year, says MacLeod, adding that there are both new and familiar faces each year.

“We have new people every year,” he says. “Not necessarily new teams but new people.”

Committee members get together and come up with the quiz’s 40 questions.

“We talk about all the questions to make sure that we have researched enough and that the answer is the answer we believe it to be,” MacLeod says.

He acknowledges that some of the questions can be tough, but he says quiz organizers don’t want something everyone can easily breeze through.

“I think we, as a committee, want it to be challenging,” he says. “If there are 40 questions and, say, 15 or 17 teams have anywhere from 35 to 40 correct answers, then it’s too easy.”

He doesn’t recall the exact winning score from last year’s event but says it was “no more than 35.”

As for quiz participants, he says event organizers like to see youth involvement – ideally perhaps one student per team – hopefully encouraging more young people to become interested and engaged in their community’s history.

The quiz entry fee is $25 and registrations may be dropped off at Spears and MacLeod (dispensary) or emailed to dawnjim@ns.sympatico.ca